T. Boone Pickens is an American businessman and philanthropist born in 1928 in Oklahoma. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with a geology degree and founded Mesa Petroleum, which grew to be one of the largest independent oil companies. Pickens also founded BP Capital Management and donated over $700 million to charity, primarily to his alma mater Oklahoma State University. In 2008, Pickens announced the Pickens Plan to promote energy independence in the United States through increased use of domestic natural gas and other renewable alternatives to oil.

1. T. Boone Pickens
American business
magnate and financier

2. Facts about early life
• He was born
in Holdenville, Oklahoma in 1928
• His father worked as an oil and
mineral landman (rights leaser)
• At age 12, Pickens delivered
newspapers.
• When the oil boom in Oklahoma
ended in the late 1930s, Pickens'
family moved to Amarillo, Texas
•He graduated from Oklahoma State with a degree in geology in
1951.
•In 1956, following his period as a wildcatter, he founded the
company that would later become Mesa Petroleum

3. Career
• By 1981, Mesa had grown into one of the largest
independent oil companies in the world.
• He was also active in the Republican Party in Potter
County
• In 1997, Pickens founded BP Capital Management
(then called BP Energy Fund) – the initials
standing for "Boone Pickens“
• In 2007, Pickens earned $2.7 billion, as BP Capital
Equity Fund grew by 24% after fees
• Pickens received the 2009 Bower Award for
Business Leadership for 50 years of visionary
leadership in oil and other types of energy
production, including domestic renewable energy,
and for his philanthropic leadership contributing to
education, medical research, and wildlife
conservation
• He was a financial supporter of President George
W. Bush and contributed heavily to both his Texas
and national political campaigns.

4. Charity
 Has given more than $700 million away to charity, of which nearly $500 million
has been donated to Oklahoma State University.
 His gift remains the largest donation to a university's athletic program in
collegiate history. His total contributions to OSU come to over $1 billion. Over
$265 million, or 66%, of his donations have been towards athletics.
 Has made substantial academic gifts to Oklahoma State University, particularly
to the School of Geology, which is named for him.
 Donated $100 million to academics at Oklahoma State University.
 Pickens and employees of his BP Capital LLC donated $7 million to
the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
 Donated $100 million to two University of Texas health care institutions.
 Pickens has also donated over $11 million to The University of Texas at Dallas
Center for Brain Health to fund educational and research initiatives in the area
of brain science.

5. The Pickens Plan
 On July 8, 2008, Pickens
announced a major energy policy
proposal, called the Pickens Plan.
 The plan promotes a radical
reduction in the United States'
dependency upon foreign energy,
particularly oil provided by nations
in the OPEC cartel.
 Although the plan calls for
introduction of various alternatives
to oil, including wind and solar, its
major component is the conversion
of the nation's commercial
transport sector away from OPEC
diesel to natural gas.